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I bought a 02 Prius and

I bought a 02 Prius and everything was going great and then the check engine turned on and then the car starts to shake and seems to turn off but the car is still running also the brake signal also turns on what can I do ...

I have heard this one

I have heard this one before...a Prius owner tries to start their car one day and it won't turn over because of a bad battery.

I'm not sure how long the warranty lasts, but eventually the battery will need to be replaced after 8 years or 150k miles.

I wrote up a nice article on my website about how it would be more inexpensive to just rebuild a new battery than it would be to buy a new one. $4k vs $500 sounds like a good deal to me, but check it out and let me know what you think.

Good luck doing this in your

Good luck doing this in your driveway. If for some crazy reason that itís not the battery, causing your car not to start.. The battery package has some zip! If you get shocked, would you think your friend Jonathan is going to visit you in hospital? But to save money when you shouldíve bought gas powered car so you donít have this issue.. Go for it. Good Luck!!

I know it has been a while

I know it has been a while but if your company still has these cars and this problem there is an easy solution that only costs $500 dollars instead of the 3000-4000 dollars that the dealers quote. The long and short of it is that you can rebuild the battery with second generation batteries in several hours and it will only cost 400-600 and it doesn't require ANY mechanical skills
Just a thought
-Lou

Mr. Bear - You are precisely

Mr. Bear - You are precisely right on all 5 points! There is one thing that a Prius Owner can do and that is rebuild the battery using second generation batteries that last longer. It costs about $500 dollars and takes an unskilled worker about 6 hours or so to do it in their home/garage. I know several hundred people have had success with this.

(I happen to sell the guide- but you don't have to buy the guide to be able to do it)

Hi, if its helpful a hybrid

Hi, if its helpful a hybrid specialist mechanic told me the mileage doesnt make that much difference. I have a 2000 Gen2 Prius thats done 147000km (91000miles) and have been told my hybrid battery needs replacing (or reconditioning) due to a faulty cell. I thought that mileage was quite low compared with what I was led to believe at the time of purchase.

Also, in completely non-technical terms, can anyone help me with the link between the 12V battery and the main battery? My 12V battery went dead a month ago, we jumpstarted it and it went fine. Now a month later my warning light goes on and I'm told my hybrid battery needs replacing. Is this coincidental or did one lead to the other? thanks

I have had my 2005 Prius for

I have had my 2005 Prius for about six months. Something forced my emergency button down on my remote and the alarm went off three times. I couldn't get it to shut off and didn't realize the button was stuck. The next day the doors wouldn't unlock using the remote. I bought a new battery for the remote. Didn't fix it. I went to the dealer and bought a new remote and had it programmed. (My spare was stolen by a burgler recently.) He said they did a "safety inspection" and everything was OK. When I went to leave the dealership I was having trouble getting my car into drive. It indicated it was in N, when I had the shifter in any position, but when I took my foot off the break, the car would move backwards without the obnoxious beep usually emitted when in reverse. I played with the shifter a few times with similar result. I was late for an appointment so I turned the car off and started over. Everything was fine and I drove off.

Several miles and stops later I was driving home. It was dark. I was on a narrow two-lane, curvy highway. On one of the curves all my lights went off. I was driving around a curve and not able to see anything. I turned my light switch on and off several times without success. I hit the brake and came to a stop. I still couldn't see anything. I quickly opened the door and saw I was next to the fog line on the opposing traffic side of the road. I could see part of a hillside. I drove to the other side of the road with my door open until I came to the fogline on the right and parked on the soft gravel shoulder. There was a hill on my left and a drop off on my right. I was lucky I didn't hit the hillside or go over the embankment. I turned my car off and back on. The headlights came back on. There was no cellphone service in the area. Pretty scary. Someone stopped and I was able to follow them 50 miles to my hometown. One of my headlights turned off and came back on a couple times during the drive, but they didn't all go out at once again.

I called the dealer today and relayed my experience. He told me they would have to check my 12V battery, but that was the most likely cause. He also said it could be the headlights themselves along with something else.

I had done a lot of car camping with this car in the last month. It had been parked for several days at different campsites, and the doors and back hatch had been opened frequently. Maybe that is what drained the battery. ???

My post is mostly to inform and warn Prius owners of the possibility that their lights could go off unexpectantly. Be careful.

I bought a 2002 prius a year

I bought a 2002 prius a year ago. Everything was nice until the turtle sign was displayed. The temperature was 113 outside. The acceleration pedal was loose. But when I drove my car at night, the turtle sign disappeared but came again after some hot days during the daytime only. The fans and radiator water are ok.
The battery sign starts at half level then goes up to full when I drive or go in a declined route. Do I need to change the hybrid system battery or just change some cells?